small farm, too many ideas

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OH SCIATICA!

Yay, now I got’s the scatica…. it makes vineyard work pretty interesting. Anyhow, that’s not why I’m posting today. Today I wanted to talk about our meat chicks. They are certainly an interesting bird to raise. We bought 51 cornish crosses which are the standard hybrid meat bird. They basically grow to size in 8-10 weeks. The birds we have now are just about 4 weeks old and they are HUGE!!!! They basically waddle to the feed trough then to the water and then just sit around. The barred rocks that are in the tractor with them are 2 weeks older!!!

Here they are bellying up to the bar. We have them in a tractor outside on grass and I think it’s way more healthy, however, that being said we are now down to 47 now, another one bit the dust this morning. I think that a 30% mortality rate is quite normal but that’s just scary. We’re already at about 9%. Hopefully, the rest will make it to harvest time.

Things in the garden are starting to sprout. Beets, beans, kale among others are up. Our brussel sprouts and broccoli look great too.

In other news, someone has found the tutu that Nancy or I used when we were little girls taking ballet.